How digital assets are shaping the future of treasury
Digital infrastructure is impacting both financial processes and the way businesses operate. Learn how treasury teams are adapting to the opportunities.
This article was originally published in The Business Times.
The recent passage of the GENIUS Act, which sets out a regulatory framework for stablecoins in the United States, for issuance by deposit taking institutions governed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, has sent a clear signal that digital assets are moving from the margins of finance into its regulatory mainstream. As digital assets gain momentum, the idea of an always-on treasury, which has been discussed for years, has also gained traction.
Across global businesses, money is trying to move instantly, settling beyond traditional banking windows and crossing borders in real-time. As a result, treasury teams are moving from ‘just in case’ to ‘just in time’ (JIT) treasury management, powered by emerging technologies and innovative financial flows.
This shift to on-chain treasury management is powered by Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), with digital tokens increasingly being used as an alternative medium of exchange and value movement. Tokenisation allows money to move 24/7 in real-time, outside of traditional banking operating hours. These benefits have accelerated the pace of demand from customers, and has led several banks and companies, including Standard Chartered, to test, pilot and deploy these technologies in live business environments.
Clients can now manage cash seamlessly across borders, 24/7. Funds move JIT, access to capital is instant, and excess liquidity can be invested in real-time as opportunities arise. This represents a step change in how effectively cash is managed and optimised.
Our recently published Global Research report suggests that 10 per cent of off-chain payments (including in spot FX markets) will be moving on-chain over the next few years. This is not an incremental improvement but a fundamental change in how liquidity, payments, and risks will be managed. It is why on-chain treasury is no longer a question of if, but when, and how it will shape the future of financial services and the treasuries they service.
From banking hours to always-on finance
One early signal of this transition can be observed in the move towards blockchain-based interbank settlement. Through Partior, a blockchain-based infrastructure backed by a consortium of global banks including Standard Chartered, real-time cross-border payments are already taking place between markets such as Singapore and Hong Kong.
These payment transactions remain fiat-based, but they settle on shared ledger infrastructure rather than through traditional SWIFT rails. For corporate treasury teams and FI customers this brings faster settlement, improved visibility, and greater certainty over their cash positions. Partior illustrates how digital infrastructure can co-exist with existing financial systems while removing long-standing friction points.
Building on this foundation is the tokenisation of money. Tokenised deposits are digital representations of funds held with a bank, issued one-to-one against fiat currency. Once on-chain, these deposits can move instantly within a banking network, allowing corporates to manage liquidity continuously rather than around fixed schedules.
One notable use case is Ant International’s internal treasury management platform, Whale. The platform uses tokenised deposits, allowing the company to move value across various currencies and multiple markets in real-time 24/7. This fulfils their cash management optimisation abilities, while also future-proofing their internal treasury management.
Alongside tokenised deposits, stablecoins are also gaining traction for payments and collections across broader ecosystems, in 24/7 real-time formats. Issued by private (generally non-bank) providers, they too, are enabling always-on payment flows between parties that may not share the same banking infrastructure. The caveat in using stablecoins as payment rails is the dichotomy between regulated and unregulated forms of stablecoins for customer regulatory clarity.
It is worth noting that stablecoins’ inherent nature require overcoming challenges of costs to access, hold, off-ramp as well as the general lack of interest accruing to stablecoins; making stablecoins more of a rail rather than store of value for corporate treasurers.
The real obstacles lie beyond technology
As these advances gain traction in the real economy, the main barriers to scale are no longer technology. They are institutional and structural. Interoperability is important, and so are other factors, such as regulatory, legal and data governance variations across jurisdictions. Without a scalable, trusted inter-bank settlement asset architecture across markets, institutions, and asset classes, any technology solution will face significant friction.
And the other reality is that while a growing number of companies are considering the move from ‘just in case’ to JIT treasury management, adoption has been gradual, and progress is unfolding at very different speeds.
Industry-led initiatives such as BLOOM (Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency), a multi-institution effort to enable settlement in tokenised bank liabilities and regulated stablecoins, are trying to address these issues by supporting wholesale adoption of digital finance infrastructure. Monetary Authority of Singapore will collaborate with financial institutions – including Standard Chartered – to explore efficient settlement models across multiple currencies under this initiative.
At the same time, Standard Chartered is part of the consortium of banks globally working with SWIFT to develop a shared digital ledger, with initial focus on real-time 24/7 cross-border payments, addressing the possible pathways for a scalable, trusted inter-bank settlement mechanism.
Beyond structural issues, corporates themselves face practical hurdles. Areas such as accounting treatment for digital assets, how interest should be recognised on tokenised deposits and the cost dynamics of minting and burning stablecoins all require clearer guidance to support mass-market adoption. Without greater clarity on these fronts, many organisations remain cautious about moving beyond pilot stages.
As a leading cross-border bank, our goal is to power the digital assets ecosystem and help our clients take advantage of the tremendous benefits and opportunities it offers.
Digital treasury is the future of treasury
What is taking shape is a shift towards more connected and coordinated financial operations, as digital assets, real-time payments and distributed ledgers mature. Singapore’s progressive regulatory framework has helped enable this transition. Clear and structured rules around digital assets have given institutions and corporates the confidence to move beyond experimentation and into practical use, accelerating adoption while maintaining trust and stability.
The institutions that shape this next phase of global banking will be those that connect networks effectively, adapt to changing client needs and support collaboration across markets. By doing so, they can help build a financial system that is more resilient, efficient and capable of supporting increasingly complex global activity.
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